Hey Chris: I'm thinking about turning my roto league into a keeper league. I'm just wondering what the basic guidelines to keeper leagues are.Thanks for the Help, Jason

That's a popular question and I strongly urge anyone who can to get a group of friends together and start one. They are a lot of fun.

All you need to do is figure out how many players you want to keep year to year and go from there. Once you've set the parameters, guys will know the worth of players when they deal them. Young guys like Rick Nash and Ilya Kovalchuk will have a higher value than the older vets like Joe Sakic and Brett Hull.

If you have a ten-team league, I'd recommend keeping at least ten players each season. That allows you to keep your favorite players plus a few guys that may be stars like Zherdev. It also allows enough room to revamp your team at the draft the following season, so the same team doesn't always win because he's acquired all of the good players.

My personal keeper league is a ten-team league that keeps 17 players plus 20 farm team players per season.

Chris: Once again I'm back to the Hockey Guru for guidance! Owner in my league loves the Avs and I'd like to send him my underperforming Derek Morris. My first target is Tkachuk - would it be bad form to offer JP Dumont or McEachern and Morris for him? Or do you think I've got to sweeten the pot more? An alternative deal would be my Morris/Dumont for his Gaborik/Brisebois which is probably more likely since Gaborik is on his bench. Or should I ask for Owen Nolan? Sorry for all the scenarios, but I'm corkscrewing myself into the ground on this one!Mike in CT

The best news for any trading owner is when you can put the screws to the other guy for one is his favorite players. Try Morris and Dumont for Gaborik and Tkachuk and see if he bites. Go from there. Gabby's value is low but his production is heating up. Tkachuk is worth a lot more than Morris now, but maybe he'll take it since he likes the Avs.

Hey Chris, great advise so far. Should I be trading Forsberg, Blake, as well as Kolzig for his Elias, Demitra, and Lalime? Forsberg, I know is a great fantasy producer when HEALTHY, and Blake is a rare blue-chip defenseman, but I really like all the players he has and I believe they'll get me a lot of points in the last quarter of the season than the guys I'm trading away.

I feel your pain on Forsberg, but I would not make that deal. I don't think you get enough back. Kolzig can be dealt for fair value, but I'd hang onto Forsberg and Blake.

I need to drop someone to bring Rob Blake of the IR. Do you think that Mogilny or Sullivan will be better for the rest of the way? Or should I drop them both and pick of O'Neil if and when he gets traded to a contender? Thanks, your help is always fantastic.

Given Mogilny's recent statement about his hip, I'd drop Mogilny to free Blake. Sullivan has been too hot to drop outright. O'Neill is someone to watch for sure though, so you may want to see if there is any other peripheral player you can drop for him.

Trying to catch the guy in 1st in my points-based league (I'm in 2nd). It's the same standards, except PIMS are not used. My Lalime, Samsonov, Selanne, and Boynton for his Mogilny, Ryan Smyth, and Kim Johnsson. I'm extremely deep in net but I'm lacking on defense and on RW. Despite that, am I still getting ripped off? This is a very hard league to trade in with people seemingly over-valuing their players and this is the best counter-offer I've gotten. Thoughts? Should I just hold until the bitter end thinking Selanne might heat up?Thanks, Mark

Selanne and Boynton are pretty much nothing these days, but Lalime is still worth something. I'd really avoid this trade because you don't want to help the first place guy. If someone is available via free agency to help out, drop Selanne outright.

Chris: Your column as usual is a must of any fantasy hockey player. I'm in a Keeper League, counting G, A, PIM, PPG, SOG, SHG. I'm pretty much dead last due to this being my first time in the league and made a few poor trades and injuries galore. I have Lindros right now. Other Centers are Demitra and Arnott. Looking towards next year, should I look to protect Lindros or try to trade him soon? Others I have and wish to protect are: Nagy, Doan, Hasek, Sullivan, Torres, Osgood / or Joseph.

Pardon the bad joke, but I'd leave Lindros unprotected so he can be someone else's headache. I'd need to see your whole roster and know how many you can keep and how many teams are in your league before I could fully recommend keepers. That said, I would be keeping Demitra over Torres and I would probably keep Hasek and Cujo as my goalies, assuming Hasek is coming back next year.

Chris: A trade I offered was declined: My Modin, Redden, and Jovanovski for Hossa, Comrie, D. Hatcher a counter-offer from the other person was My Modin, Redden, and Jovonovski for Datsyuk, Comrie, And D. Hatcher. He also has Iginla and Doan besides Hossa and Datsyuk. Which of these four in addition to Comrie and Hatcher would be a good trade for me? I need goals, assists, PP, PIM, shots (goals is the least important since I can not catch anyone in front of me) and I am willing to give up on defense because I can move up more spots offensively than defensively.Jay

Try a two-for-one. Maybe Jovo/ Modin for Iginla if he'll bite, or Redden/ Modin for Iginla/ Comrie if he won't take Jovo. Datsyuk is great for points, but Iggy is superior for shots and PIM's.

Chris: I'm in a keeper sim league (we replay the previous season but have only 20 teams). Obviously overall play is key as all elements of a player's performance are considered. I feel that I have managed to have a solid young team with three promising lines (Nash-Datsyuk-Gaborik-Souray-Tanabe / P.Stefan-Spezza-Havlat-Hannan-Zyuzin / D.Sedin-H.Sedin-Cole-Andrew Ference-Bryan Allen) with okay goaltending (Turek and LeClair). I've got a number of role or high-risk players to plug holes. I'm likely going to get the 1st overall draft pick and will exercise an option on swapping for the 3rd pick. How should I rank the following 3 players that will be available at the top of our draft: a) Marc Andre-Fleury, b) Joni Pitkanen, or c) Nikolai Zherdev? PS. I'm hoping to be in the top 25% of my league in two years.Rob

I'm going to assume that since you're going backward one season that Ovechkin will not be available at the draft.

All three guys are excellent prospects. With Pittsburgh looking as poorly as they do, I'd probably take Pitkanen or Zherdev. Given the difficulty of finding good offensive defensemen, I'd ultimately take Pitkanen. Kari Lehtonen is another great prospect to keep in mind if he's still available. I'd take Lehtonen with your second pick.
Have a fantasy hockey question? Drop me a line at chris_nichols@canoemail.com. I do my best to answer all questions within 24 hours, depending on the volume of emails. Please keep the questions short. Your fantasy questions may be answered in our Ask Slam! section.

Which team is your early pick to win the Stanley Cup this season?
Blackhawks
Penguins
Bruins
Kings
Blues
Red Wings
Canucks
Ducks
Another team